Creating a community/farm co-op in rural beautiful southern Illinois

Hi Community Permies,

I have a 116 acre farm in far southern Illinois.  After I inherited the farm, I could not find a farmer to do regenerative agriculture (permaculture) for me.  So, like a crazy person, I decided to do it myself at the ripe old age of 68 and with no experience farming (I am currently 70 and my partner is 73).   We moved here from Austin, Texas (BIG change!)  One of my hopes is that the farm will eventually be a successful example of regenerative ag that other farmers can learn from and will hopefully copy.  But I have a long way to go and definitely need partners.  

The county has less than 4,000 people, no stop light, and no Walmart.  If you like rural, you will love it!  It is the hilly and scenic area of Illinois -- the glaciers didn't get this far south.  And the county is home to 93,000 acres of the Shawnee National Forest (I am guessing it is about 1/4 of the county).  Lots of wildlife, horse trails, camping, and hunting.  My farm is 4 miles from the county seat which has about 700 people, 4 restaurants, hardware store, grocery story, Dollar General, a great library, post office, and convenience store/gas station.  The nearest larger city is Paducah, KY which is about 25 miles (35 minutes) away.  It has a population of 25,000 but the metro area has a population of about 100,000.  It has almost every chain store, restaurant, etc you could want.  Carbondale, home of Southern Illinois University, is 1.25 hours away.  

My farming focus so far has been on agroforestry.  I have a CRP/USDA contract for 22 acres that includes 14,500 tree and shrub seedlings -- which are now in the ground.  A major feat!  From the list of options I was given, I chose trees and shrubs that will eventually have a marketable crop.  About 5,000 of the seedlings are hazelnuts.  The rest are elderberry, American plum, silky dogwood, chokeberry, white oak, and red cedar (the red cedar was chosen to create a barrier around the farm to help protect it from volatile herbicides that are used by farmers in the area.)  

I am open to selling acres from just a few acres (5 or so) up to about 70 acres with owner financing as a possible optionud or leasing acres.  The average price of farm land in this county is $5,600 per acre.  I have not had mine appraised lately but I might be negotiable on price.   You MUST legally yuagree to use only regenerative/permaculture practices.

For the farm co-op:  So far I have a 60 HP Kioti tractor with front loader bucket and pallet fork attachment, Titan 6 ft cutter, biochar kiln, and Whitfield tree planter.  I am in the midst of building a barn.  I plan to get an egg mobile to be able to rotate chickens to a different pasture every day.   I might put in more fencing for rotational grazing but don't want to take on livestock until I have a partner.  We have a large fifth wheel RV (has 4 slide outs) that could be used for temporary housing until you get your own home established.  

If you have questions, might be interested, email me at greeningacres@gmail.com.  Thanks.  Pam

If you haven't already, feel encouraged to post in the regional forum for your area, that can reach people local to you who are seeking this oppertunity, in addition to this more general community forum.

Hi Pam, I’m in Illinois and emailed you. I’d love to talk!
Jeanine

Hello, i see this was posted 10 months ago. Did you find the help you are looking for? i found your article when looking for farming communities in southern il for my  work week: for agriculture. We promote certain topics here at the travel center to help tourist learn more of our area during different months of the year. This sounds very interesting, Would you like to provide any information that we can share with those that are travelling through?  for the week of March 17th- 21st 2025 Thank you! Rend Lake Southbound Visitor's Information Center, Whittington IL. -

Hi Pamela!

I can’t believe that I didn’t comment on this thread last year!  Congratulations on getting the farm and all the acreage.  I will definitely give a shout out to the beautiful rolling hills of Southern Illinois and the Shawnee National Forest.  It really is a treasure, a hidden gem.

I would think that your farm would be an excellent opportunity for someone trying to get established in regenerative agriculture and the local area is about as perfect a fit for such an endeavor as you are about to find.

I wish you luck on your search and for anyone reading this who might be interested, Southern Illinois is a beautiful place (don’t think flat plains of Central Illinois!) and this could be a perfect opportunity.

Good luck to everyone!!

Eric

My suggestion is a C.L.T (Community Land Trust) on paper which is recognized as a Non-profit organization and eligable for special grants, loans/financing, donations from benefactors and possible subsidiaries. The C.L.T. functions on the premise of an indefinite land lease where the normal costs associated with land ownership like property taxes and inflation is a non-issue. Plus, for a community model the C.L.T. enables each person/family to own their own home and retain agency for developing their plot while remaining in solidarity and support of Stewardship principles assocaited with being a member resident. The key for this model to work is for 100% member resident representation on the borad of directors. In this way, accountaility can retain the agency of autonomy in a long term and sustainable community context of funcitonal interdependence.